Wings hold off surging Ducks

Jon Gold, The Sports Xchange

The SportsXchange•March 25, 2013

ANAHEIM -- The Detroit Red Wings came to Anaheim and doused the NHL's hottest team for four periods across three days. They spent two more periods on Sunday night trying to keep the fire from simmering once more. Behind a strong effort from Jimmy Howard, the Red Wings kept the Ducks from re-igniting and won their second straight game at the Honda Center with a 2-1 victory. Anaheim entered the two-game set with points in 17 of its last 19 contests, but after a 5-1 Detroit shellacking on Friday, the Red Wings showed little let up two days later. Detroit scored twice in the first period to take complete control early against an Anaheim squad that has rallied from behind 14 times in 30 games, the highest 30-game total since 1987-88. "When you play a team back-to-back like that, you are kind of familiar with them and you know what is going to come," Detroit coach Mike Babcock said. "We expected a big push from them, which they had, and we tried to withstand those pushes throughout the game and push back when we can." The Red Wings managed to keep the feisty Ducks at bay, squashing multiple scoring opportunities. Anaheim managed 34 shots on goal to Detroit's 21, but Howard notched 33 saves. The Ducks challenged late with multiple looks in Detroit territory, but penalties to Ryan Getzlaf, Corey Perry and Teemu Selanne with less than a minute left deflated the arena. "We knew tonight was going to be a totally different game than Friday," Howard said. "It was a very different style game and we found a way." Added Getzlaf on the late penalties: "I'm not going to comment like I want to. It's not my place right now. I'm trying to stay composed. But I don't want to take anything from the Detroit Red Wings. They played hard tonight and their goaltender played great. It's the nature of the game. We're going to bite our tongue and push forward right now." Anaheim was only scrambling because Detroit applied the pressure early. Daniel Cleary put the Red Wings up early with a tipped slapshot from Jakub Kindl past Jonas Hiller on a power play at the 4:14 mark of the first period. Drew Miller emerged from a clogged scrum just outside the goalie box to poke a goal past Hiller at the 8:46 mark of the first period, staking the Red Wings to the 2-0 lead. "That was a big win for us," Babcock said. "I thought we were fantastic at the start, and what I would call cautious or careful. We played too much defense; we competed hard but we were on our heels too much." Anaheim cut the Detroit lead to 2-1 late in the second period on a one-timer wrist shot by Getzlaf. Getzlaf stroked the puck past Howard at the 19:14 mark of the second period off assists from Saku Koivu and Perry. Despite chance after chance, though, Anaheim could not get back on the board. "When Chicago lost one, they lost two, and they started to get back into the swing of things. It's a little different situation here, but at the same time, as long as we don't dwell on it to the point where we're feeling sorry for ourselves now, we'll be fine." NOTES: Anaheim's Nick Bonino missed his seventh straight game with a lower-body injury. He remains listed as day-to-day. ... Detroit remains without Carlo Colaiacovo, Darren Helm, Todd Bertuzzi, Mikael Samuelsson and Kyle Quincey. Colaiacovo was taken off the injured reserve list on March 23. ... Anaheim won the first matchup this season between the two teams, 5-2, on Feb. 15 in Detroit. ... The Red Wings have lost 182 man games because of injuries. ... The Ducks' consecutive home dates with Detroit marked just the second time in franchise history that they've squared off against the same team in back-to-back home games. ... Zetterberg became just the 19th player in Red Wings history to dress for 700 games. ... Anaheim's 48 points entering the game tied with Pittsburgh for second in the NHL behind Chicago. Detroit has ravaged Anaheim in the series between the two teams, sporting a 47-18-7-2 record against the Ducks entering the game. ... Anaheim's 95 goals through 30 games ranked as the second-highest output in team history.